Partypoker To Exit Australia on August 31st; Pokerstars to Follow on September 11th

Published on August 30th, 2017 2:23 am EST

Australians and poker players across the globe are staring with gloom at two upcoming days on the calendar - August 31st and September 11th.

On August 31st, Partypoker will officially pull out of the Australian market. 12 days later, on September 11th, Pokerstars will follow suit as well.

Earlier this month, the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act was given royal assent in Australia. According to the Act, only companies that are licensed and operating out of Australia will be able to offer online gaming services to Australian players.

This means that companies such as 888 (they already pulled out of Australia earlier this year), Partypoker and Pokerstars will no longer be welcome in Australia.

This also means that many online poker players in Australia will likely find themselves no longer playing the game online, similar to what happened in the United States when "Black Friday" eliminated many casual American players from the global online poker player pool. Those in Australia who still want to keep playing will still have options, though they won't be able to access the sites of companies that are publicly traded, such as 888, Pokerstars and Partypoker. These companies must strictly comply with rules and regulations due to being publicly traded, which is why they have all announced their intention to leave Australia.

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As we have mentioned before, Australia is a big, big loss to the global online poker market.

Australians love to gamble and their country is one of the richest in the world, which is why their withdrawal is being treated with such gloom. Australians make the game better for everyone, as they inject precious money into the online poker ecosystem. With their withdrawal, the online poker market loses another strong market.

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If you live in Australia, make sure to take advantage of these last few days on partypoker and Pokerstars, as it will likely be a long time before you can play on these sites again.